Revealing renovation of the Cathedral of SS. Peter & Paul in Providence near completion

By RICHARD C. DUJARDIN

Thursday

Aug 29, 2013 at 9:55 PM

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — “In my personal opinion this is the most beautiful cathedral in New England.” So declared the Rev. Monsignor Anthony Mancini the other day, admitting he was probably a bit prejudiced.

PROVIDENCE — “In my personal opinion this is the most beautiful cathedral in New England.”

So declared the Rev. Monsignor Anthony Mancini the other day, admitting he was probably a bit prejudiced. As the rector of the Diocese of Providence’s Cathedral of SS. Peter & Paul, he is overseeing a $1.2-million interior renovation now nearing completion.

Except for a couple of weddings this weekend, visitors will get to see the makeover only when the cathedral resumes its regular Mass schedule upstairs on the Sept. 7-8 weekend. The rector hopes that with the new lighting and other features, people will like what they see.

“There is a painting of the Transfiguration by the German artist William Lambrecht in the center of the ceiling that I bet most people never noticed because it was up in the shadows.” But with the soon-to-be installed more energy-efficient LED lights, he says, people will get to see not only Lambrecht’s painting, he said, visitors will see many other things that never before caught their eye.

In an interview Wednesday, the rector was still speaking in the future tense. And there is one reason why the priest has admitted to feeling a bit more anxious these days. Two weddings are set for this weekend, the first for Brendon Glenn and Meaghan Pierannuzi of Woonsocket, Saturday at 3 p.m., and it’s clear a lot of work remains to be done.

Monsignor Mancini remarked Wednesday that if crews were able to install new kneeling cushions for just the front portion of the 1,500-seat edifice, it would be good enough to get by, “unless they have an extremely large wedding party.”

Planning for the renovations began some two years ago once the monsignor and diocesan officials realized that next June 29, the feast day of the cathedral’s two patron saints, would mark the 125th anniversary of the weekend when Bishop Matthew Harkins, the second bishop of Providence, consecrated the building in 1889.

One of the monsignor’s biggest concerns: the imported marble flooring for the cathedral’s new cross aisles had yet to arrive.

Some of the big accomplishments so far: new flooring to replace the worn linoleum underneath the cathedral’s pews, and the finding of a contractor to repair the clock, which hasn’t worked for years, atop one of the cathedral’s 156-foot twin towers and to synchronize it with the four bells. Also $200,000 has been spent to protect the building’s stained glass windows, all considered priceless, which were originally shipped to Providence from Munich in the 1870s and 1880s.

Then there’s the cathedral’s magnificent organ, built in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, and installed at the end of the cathedral’s last major renovation in 1972. In preparing to protect the organ from the dust of renovation, workers a few months ago discovered that some of the pipes were beginning to lean forward and needed repair.

“Now that’s something we don’t want. We don’t want them to fall on anybody, the organist or myself especially,” said Monsignor Mancini.

Also to be installed soon are four video cameras that will allow services to be streamed on the Internet, which would be especially helpful to people who live far away and can’t attend a wedding or a funeral.

When word of the renovations, which officially began on July 1, spread, some critics said the money was better spent helping the poor.

The rector bristles at those complaints. As an organization, the Catholic Church in Rhode Island does more than any other to help the needy, he said, “but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have things that are beautiful, especially when it’s about preserving something as historic as this. Closing this would be like closing the State House. This is the mother church of the diocese.”

The monsignor remarked that the $1.2 million directed for the project comes primarily from a $750,000 withdrawal from the cathedral’s endowment, with another $250,000 that he is raising through donations and pledges. Not one penny for the project, he says, is coming out of Catholic Charities or other diocesan funds. All of that is a pittance, he says compared with what was spent on the cathedral’s last major renovation in 1968-1971 and the $177 million that is being spent on a five-year renovation of St. Patrick Cathedral in New York.

Other big upcoming events, besides those those for Christmas, Lent and Easter, include a concert set for March 23 featuring many of the German musical pieces that were used at the cathedral’s dedication in 1878, meant to raise money for heating assistance for the needy, as well as a major celebration of the cathedral’s 125th anniversary on June 29.

As for Cathedral Square itself, Monsignor Mancini said many people have observed that the tiled piazza, with the stairs that are part of it, have suffered major deterioration in recent years, and the fountain has not gushed water for years.

But responsibility for the square belongs to the city, he said.

Mayor Angel Taveras’ spokesman, David Ortiz, said the city’s downtown neighborhood plan is the same as it has been for years: to link the two ends of Westminster Street by having it run through Cathedral Square. Such a plan would require the city to buy and demolish the diocesan headquarters building that stands directly in the path.

Ortiz said there is “presently no funding for this” and did not offer any proposed solutions for fixing the square in the interim.

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